Concrete wall form with interlocking tie rod connection therefor



Apnl 23, 1963 B. RUTH ETAL 3,086,272

CONCRETE WALL FORM WITH INTERLOCKING TIE ROD CONNECTION THEREFOR Filed July 27, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 F so 34 54- 4 l8 2 20 l I;

INVENTORS 20 BYRON Ru-rH BY ROMAN k T April 23, 1963 B. RUTH ETAL 3,086,272

CONCRETE WALL FORM WITH INTERLOCKING TIE ROD CONNECTION THEREFOR Filed July 27. 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS BY N Ru BY R0 N K0 A'r'm pr 11963v B. RUTH ETAL 3,086,272

cencam: WALL FORM WITH INTERLOCKING TIE ROD CONNECTION THEREFOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed July 2'7, 1961 T Mme O O TUK R mum 0 RM YO BR ATTY.

p 23, 1963 B. RUTH ETAL CONCRETE WALL FORM WITH INTERLOCKING TIE ROD CONNECTION THEREFOR 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed July 2'7, 1961 90 INVENTORS; BYRON Ru'rH 30 BY RoMAN K021 MM A'r'rY.

United States Patent F The improved tie rod panel connection comprising the present invention has been designed for use specifically in connection with concrete wallform panels which are commonly referred to as Steel-Ply panels and are of the type which is shown and described in United States Patent No. 2,640,249, granted on June 2, 1953, to Arthur H. Symons and entitled Wall Form Panel. A panel of this type comprises a rectangular facing of plywood and a marginal reinforcing frame of steel. The longitudinal and transverse frame members of the panel frame are provided with outwardly directed spacer ribs along their side edges to the end that these frame members are of shallow channel shape in cross section.

In order to accommodate the tie rods which maintain the two oppositely disposed series of edge-to-edge wall form panels in their spaced relationship, and also to maintain the panels against outward displacement, pairs of transversely aligned notches are formed in the spaced ribs of the various frame members. When the panels are positioned in edge-to-edge relationship to make up the two series of the form as a whole, the ribs of adjacent channel-shaped frame members meet and as the result, the web parts of the frame members remain slightly spaced from each other. The pairs of notches in the adjacent ribs, in combination with each other, define rectangular holes or openings which are adapted to receive therethrough the adjacent ends of the tie rods. At the level of the notches, the webs are provided with aligned holes and these are adapted to receive fastening bolts therethrougln The bolts are slotted for reception of wedges, which when driven into place, lock the adjacent panels together in.

edge-to-edge relation. The ends of the tie rods are adapted to extend between adjacent webs and are slotted so that the fastening bolts may also pass through them to the end that they serve the dual function of anchoring the tie rod ends in position and locking adjacent panels together. The tie rod panel connection of the present invention contemplates the use of a special form of tie rod which is useful-only in connection with such Steel Ply panels or with panels of a similar nature having marginal metal frame members, but not necessarily having spacer ribs along their marginal edges.

The tie rod of the present invention possesses the same general characteristics as the tie rod of lmonetti Patent No. 2,948,045 in that it consists essentially of an elongated fiat strip of heavy gauge metal stock and is adapted, when assembled in the concrete wall form installation, to pass completely through the wall forms and intervening poured concrete so that, after the concrete-has hardened and the forms have been removed, the projecting ends of the tie rod may be bent, twisted, or otherwise manipulated in various directions to weaken the metal of the rod at the regions where it enters the concrete and thus enable the projecting ends of the rod to be ruptured or severed and thereafter removed from the concrete mass.

One of the improvements which the tie rod of the present invention offers over the tie rod of Patent No.

2,948,045 is concerned with load distribution. The present tie rod is better able to withstand the tremendous stress exerted by outward pressure of the panels under the influence of the weight of the poured concrete mass, whereas with the earlier tie rod, the rod is subjected to .of the tie rod in position on the panels.

3,086,272 Patented Apr. 23, 1963 "ice shear stress solely in the vicinity of the fastening bolts which pass through the ends of the rod. In the tie rod of the present invention, the shear stress is distributed between regions which are longitudinally spaced along the rod, and also between other regions which are transversely spaced from one another.

Another and important improvement which the present tie rod offers resides in the continuity of the metal of the tie rod throughout. By way of explanation, the present tie rod is devoid of marginal notches and internal holes, slots, or other perforations which, by their presence, would tend to weaken the over-all tensional characteristics of the rod.

Still considering shear resistance and tensional strength, the present tie rod is so designed that, when placed under tension in an actual installation, it is not subject to bending stresses. In other words, in an actual installation, the pull which is exerted upon the tie rod by the spreading action of the concrete acting through the panels, is entirely an axial pull with little or no transverse components of stress being involved.

Apart from the structural nature of the present tie rod, the rod, when in use, offers several functional advantages over the earlier tie rod, one important advantage being that by reason of the specific and novel connection between the tie rod and the panels which are associated therewith in a complete wall form assembly, there is no need where Steel-Ply panels are concerned to notch the side frame ribs or otherwise remove metal from the steel frame members of the panels. The unnotched ribs may thus afford full reinforcing strength to the frame members on which they are formed.

Another advantage of the present tie rod connection resides in a locking effect which is attained when the panels are in their erected or operative position, both before and after the concrete has become set or hardened. This locking effect takes place independently of the fastening bolts and their associated wedges, or of whatever other means may be employed for anchoring the ends According to the present invention, an interengagin'g locking connection is effected between the panels and the ends of the tie rod, and the nature of this connection is such that the panels will remain securely attached to the tie rod even after the bolts which draw the adjacent edges of the panels together are removed. By such an arrangement, it is possible for a workman, when stripping the concrete installation of the panels, to remove all of the fastening bolts and, thereafter, take down the panels one at a time and in any selected order of removal.

The provision of a tie rod panel connection possessing the advantageous features briefly outlined above being among the principal objects of the invention, various other objects and advantages of the invention not at this time enumerated, will become readily apparent as the following description ensues.

In the accompanying four sheets of drawings forming a part of this specification, a tie rod utilized in connection with the present invention is shown.

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view, partly in section, of a concrete wall form installation showing the tie rod of the present invention operatively applied there to;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a portion of the concrete wall structure with one of the tie rods in position within the hardened concrete preparatory to fracture and removal of the tie rod ends;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a limited portion of the structure of FIG. 1, the view being taken in the vicinity of the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view, similar to FIG. 3, but showing the tie rod in a stressed position of panel release;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of H6. 3;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5, but showing the panel undergoing removal from the concrete installation;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of the tie rod;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5, but showing the tie rod operatively applied to a modified wall form panel;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken on the line 10-10 of FIG. 8.

In FIG. 1, a fragmentary portion of a composite wall form of conventional construction has been designated in its entirety by the reference numeral 14} and is made up of two series (12 and 14 of rectangular panels with the panels of each series being arranged in edge-to-edge relationship. The panels of the two series are designated by the reference numeral 16 and are maintained in spaced, parallel relationship by means of tie rod assemblies 13 which incorporate the novel tie rods proper of the present invention and will be described in detail presently. Two of the tie rod assemblies 18 have been shown in FIG. 1 as being associated with two adjacent panels 16 of each series 12 and 14 in the production of a concrete wall such as has been fragmentarily shown at 19 in FIG. 2.

The various panels 16 are of more or less conventional design and no claim is made herein to any novelty associated with the same per se except insofar as they have been modified to accommodate the panel connection of the present invention. Such panels are commonly known as Steel-Ply panels and are manufactured and sold by Symons Clamp & Mfg. Co. of Chicago, Illinois. They are of the prefabricated type and consist of rectangular plywood facings 20 and rectangular marginal steel reinforcing frames. The frames are applied to the outer faces of the panels and consist of vertical and horizontal frame members, only the vertical frame members 22 being illustrated in the drawings. At appropriate levels in the form structure, suitable horizontal frame struts or bars 24 of angle shape may extend across the panels between the opposed vertical frame members 22.

Each vertical frame member 22 is in the form of a length of specially shaped structural steel stock of shallow channel configuration with the result that the frame members 22 present spaced parallel outside and inside marginal ribs 26 and 28 and a connecting Web 30. On the inner side of the Web 30 is a longitudinally extending rib 32 which defines an annular groove or recess 34 for reception therein of the vertical edge region of the plywood panel facing 20. The ends of the horizontal frame bars 24 are welded to the inner sides of the webs 30 of the vertical frame members 22. Said webs are formed with holes 36 for reception therethrough of conventional connecting bolt and wedge assemblies 38 by means of which adjacent panels are fastened together in edge-to-edge relation.

Each tie rod assembly 18 is comprised of a tie rod proper 40 of novel design, and a pair of composite spacer cones 42. The spacer cones 42 may be identical with the cones which are shown and described in said Imonetti Patent No. 2,948,045. They are in the form of two-piece, plastic, trapezoidal, hexahedrons having six faces, four of which are trapezoidal. Although, they do not present a truly conical appearance, they function in the form assembly in the manner of conventional spacer devices or cones which have become known in the art as tie rod cones, and for this reason, they will be referred to as such throughout this specification. For a full understanding of the nature and function of the spacer cones 42, reference may be had to the aforementioned patent.

The tie rod proper 40 of each assembly 18 is in the form of a length of flat metal stock of relatively heavy gauge and of a longitudinal extent appreciably greater than the over-all width of the spaced series 12 and 1-1 of the wall form panels 16. At regions which are spaced inwardly from the ends of the tie rod proper 4%,, the metal is relieved to provide respective pairs of transversely opposed notches 50, thus weakening the metal of the tie rod in these regions. In the hardened concrete Wall structure 19, the notches lie within the confines of the concrete mass and constitute breakbacks or points of weakness by means of which the protruding ends of the tie rod may be wrested or broken from the medial region of the rod and the latter region allowed to remain embedded in the concrete. The notches 56 thus divide the tie rod into three sections, namely, a medial section 52, which remains in the concrete, and two removable end sections 54.

The cones 42 are adapted to be applied to the tie rod 40 either at the factory or in the field prior to setting up of the concrete wall form and, when in position on the tie rod, they span the longitudinal extent from the adjacent pairs of notches 50 to the regions where the end sections 54 emerge from the side surfaces of the concrete wall structure. These cones serve the dual purpose of providing outwardly facing shoulders which engage the opposed wall form panels and limit their inward movement during erection of the forms, and of creating voids in the concrete which, after the panels have been removed but prior to extraction of the pliable or deformable cones, afford clearance pockets for working of the end sections 54 in various directions so that the metal of the rod may be fractured along lines of cleavage preparatory to removal of these end sections 54 from the installation.

As best shown in FIG. 7, the end sections 54 of the tie rod 40 are identical in their configuration, as is also the manner in which these end regions cooperate with the form panels 16. Therefore, a description relating to one end region or section of the tie rod 40 will sufiice for both end sections. Each end section 54 of the tie rod 40 is shaped, preferably by a cold die forming operation, so as to provide in the upper edge of the rod an arcuate trough 60, and in the lower edge of the rod a pair of arcuate troughs 62 and 64. The trough 60 is spaced inwardly from the adjacent end extremity 66 of the rod an appreciable distance and the rim region of the trough merges gradually on opposite sides of the trough with a pair of arcuate humps 68. The troughs 62 and 64 are spaced from each other, and with respect to the longitudinal axis of the rod, they straddle the trough 60. The region 70 of the rod between the trough 64 and the adjacent end extremity 66 is linearly straight and lies in the extended confines of the medial region 52 of the rod. The lower edge of the rod between the troughs 62 and 64 is in the form of a hump 72. The crests of the three humps 68, 68 and 72 lie slightly outside the extended confines of the straight medial region 52 of the rod. The various troughs and humps in the edges of the tie rod are brought into existence when the straight blank rod section is worked in the forming dies. Because of the fact that inward pressure is applied to the edge regions of the rod at the points where the bottom regions of the troughs are formed and on opposite sides of the points where the bumps are formed, the metal of the rod is displaced laterally in various directions in such a manner that the metal of the rod is pushed outwardly in the regions of the humps beyond the confines of the original blank. Thus, as the tie rod emerges from the forming dies, the end regions or sections 54 thereof assume a generally sinuous configuration, but no portion of the tie rod is displaced out of the general plane of the blank from which the tie rod is formed.

Referring now to FIGS. 1, and 3 to 6, inclusive, the conventional Steel-Ply panels 16 are modified for attachment of the end sections 54 of the tie rods 40* thereto in such a manner that the rods extend at a right angle to the panel facings 20, project through the latter, and are releasably secured to the inside faces of the vertical frame members 22. Accordingly, at appropriate levels along the webs 30 of the vertical frame members, two horizontally aligned, spaced apart, supporting pins 74 and '76 project out of the plane of the inside face of the web 30 and are provided with enlarged shoulderforming heads 78. The spacing of the two pins 74 and 76 is approximately equal to the center-to-center spacing of the adjacent troughs 62 and 64 of the tie rods so that the tierods may be positioned flat against the inside face of the web 30 as shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4 with the troughs 62 and 64 seated upon the shank portions of the pins 74 and 76, respectively. The end sections 54 of the tie rod-s are adapted to be securely held in their seated position upon the pins 74 and 76 by means of the bolt and wedge assemblies 38. The latter include bolts 80 having heads 82 which bear against the inside faces of the webs 30 and shanks 84 which project through adjacent aligned holes 36 in the webs 30 of adjacent panels 16. The shanks 84 are slotted as at 88 (see FIGS. 1, 3 and 5) for reception therethrough of wedges 90 by means of which the tie rod 40 and the bolt heads 82 are drawn hard against the inside faces of the webs 30 against which they bear. The bolts 80, when passed through the aligned holes 36, register with the troughs 60 in the tie rod end sections 54, and thus, the troughs 60, 62 and 64, together with the cooperating pins 74 and 76 and the bolts 80, serve to confine the ends of the tie rod against both horizontal axial and vertical lateral shifting with respect to the panels I16.

With the tie rod 40 thus in position against the inside faces of the adjacent webs 30 of the vertical frame members 22, the medial section 52 of the rod projects through elongated vertical slots 92 in the panel facings 20 and notches 94 in the ribs 32. The slots 92 and the notches 94 may be so formed that when the troughs 62 and 64 seat upon the pins 74 and 76 respectively, the upper edges of the .slots and notches are engaged by the upper edge of the tie rod 40. An interlocking engagement thus exists between the tie rod and the vertical frame members 22 so that the panels 16 are securely held against either inward or outward displacement prior to concrete-pouring operations, even before the bolt and wedge asssemblies 80, 90 are applied. Similarly, after the concrete has been poured and become hardened, the interlocking connection between the parts prevents outward displacement of the panels, even after the connecting bolt and wedge assemblies have been removed. Thus, it is possible for a workman to remove all of the connecting bolt and wedge assemblies associated with a given installation, and thereafter, to remove the panels 16 at will in any desired order of removal from the installation.

To effect removal of a panel after the connecting bolt and wedge assemblies 80, 90 associated therewith have been removed, it is merely necessary to strike the underneath edge of the projecting portion 70 of the tie rod 40 with a suitable impact tool such as the hammer head H shown in dotted lines in FIG. 6 so that the end sections 54 will be displaced upwardly and the lower edge of the tie rod caused to clear the pins 74 and 76. The panel 16 may then be pulled outwardly and thus removed from the concrete wall 19. After the panel has been removed, the end sections 54 of the tie rod 40' may be worked by swinging the same back and forth or by twisting the same until cleavage takes place in the vicinity of the breakback notches 50 in the usual manner of wresting tie rod ends from a concrete installation.

It is to be noted at this point that the installation of FIG. 1 is illustrative of the construction and use of the present tie rod rather than being a typical installation. For convenience of setting-up the panels 16 and taking them down, it is contemplated that the panels will be constructed with the pins 74 and 76 applied in pairs on predetermined centers and at predetermined elevations on only one of the two vertical frame members 22. Small panels may have only one pair of pins associated therewith, while larger panels may have multiple pairs of pins spaced apart at regular predetermined distances along the height of the panels. In an installation, the panels will be so arranged in their edge-to-edge relationship that all of the pins extend in the same horizontal direction and so that the wedges 90 may be applied from the same side of any given web 30. For disclosure purposes, the two bolts 80 shown in FIG. I extend in opposite directions so that the wedges are disposed on opposite sides of the webs 30, but in actual practice, both bolts will extend in the same direction and the slots 92 in the panel facings 20 will be vertically aligned.

In FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, the tie rod 40 remains precisely the same as the tie rod in FIGS. 1 to 7, inclusive, but the installation thereof in the concrete wall form is made in a different manner. Whereas in the earlier described installation, the panels 16 are in the form of Steel-Ply panels which have been modified by the omission of registering slots in the marginal ribs 26 and 28, and by the application thereto of the supporting pins 74 and 76 in the installation of FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, the ribs 26 and 2 8- are provided with notches and 101, respectively, at vertically spaced regions along the vertical frame members 22 to accommodate the tie rod assemblies 1-8, while the webs 30 of the frame members are provided with supporting pins 102 and 104 which project out of the plane of the outside faces of these webs. The spacing between the pins 102 and 104 is identical with the spacing of the pins 74 and 76, which is to say, that they are spaced apart a distance equal to the spacing between the bottoms of the troughs 62' and 64. The pins 102 and 104 are in horizontal register with the pairs of registering notches 100 and 101. When adjacent panels in the installation are operatively assembled in edge-to-edge relationship, the ends of corresponding pins 102 and 104 on the two panels meet in end-to-end relationship and, in effect, provide continuous composite supporting pins which extend completely across the narrow void which exists between the webs 30 of adjacent panels. The bolt-receiving holes 36 in the webs 30 remain the same as in the other described form of installation and, otherwise, the panels in both forms are identical so that the application of similar reference numerals to the corresponding parts will serve to avoid needless repetition of description.

In assembling the form installation which has fragmentarily been shown in FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, the various panels 16 are erected in their edge-to-edge relationship, and the tie rods proper 40, with the spacer cones 42 assembled thereon, are positioned in the horizontally aligned rectangular openings defined by the registering notches 100 and 101. The panels are brought to bear against the outwardly facing shoulders afforded by the large bases of the cones and the bolt and wedge assemblies 38 are installed through the various registering holes 36 and through the troughs =60 inv the tie rods to lock the tie rods in position with the troughs 62 and 64 seated upon the pins 102 and 104 respectively. The installation may be knocked down simply by removing the bolt and wedge assemblies 38 and resorting to the procedure outlined in connection with FIG. 6.

It is to be noted that at this point the vertical extent of the notches 100 in the outside ribs 26 is appreciably greater than the transverse width of the end regions 70 of the tie rods 40 which project therethrough so that there will be ample clearance for upward movement of the extreme outer ends of the rods for panel-releasing purposes. The vertical extent of the notches 101 in the inside ribs 28 is not necessarily as great as that of the notches 100 and thus, the upper edge of these notches may serve to hold the tie rods operatively seated upon the supporting pins 102 and 104 immediately prior to installation of the bolt and wedge assemblies 38 and immediately after removal thereof.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification as various changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, while the end sections 54 of the tie rod are shown and described herein as being attached to the vertical frame members 22, it will be understood that, if desired, the horizontal frame members of opposed panels in a concrete wall form installation may be provided with pins like the pins 74 and 76 on their inside faces and the tie rods caused to cooperate with such pins for panel-spacing purposes. Therefore, modifications are contemplated within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a concrete wall form installation, in combination, a pair of contiguous, upright, panels arranged in edge-toedge relationship, each panel including a panel facing and a vertical steel frame member of shallow, outwardly presented, channel configuration having a flat Web with marginal ribs extending therealong, the frame members of the two panels being disposed with their ribs in abutting relationship and with their webs slightly spaced apart, a pair of short supporting pins projecting outwardly from each web and disposed in a common horizontal plane, the pins of each pair being disposed in axial alignment, said panels being disposed on one side of the wall form installation in opposition to a similar pair of contiguous panels on the other side of the wall form installation, a tie rod extending transversely and horizontally across the Wall form installation and comprising a length of flat metal stock presenting parallel upper and lower longitudinal edges, said edges being formed with breakbacks spaced inwardly from the ends of the tie rod, thus dividing the tie rod into a medial section adapted to remain embedded in the hardened concrete of the wall installation and two end sections adapted to project outwardly beyond the opposite faces of the wall installation, one end section projecting between the spaced apart webs of the frame members of the two panels and being provided with spaced apart troughs in the lower edge thereof, said throughs seating upon the axially aligned pins, the upper edge of said one end section being formed with a trough substantially midway between the transverse planes of said spaced apart troughs, said vertical frame members being provided with holes in register with each other and with said latter trough, a bolt having a slotted shank projecting through said holes and passing through and latter trough, and a wedge extending through said slotted shank on the side of one of said webs remote from said end section of the tie rod for drawing said frame members hard against each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,644,588 Heltzel Oct. 4, 1927 1,815,368 Wotnoske July 21, 1931 2,449,912 Rumble Sept. 21, 1948 2,702,420 Williams Feb. 22, 1955 2,948,045 Imonetti Aug. 9, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 855,155 Germany Nov. 10, 1952 

